A weekend raid on a Clarksburg conference center yielded 144 video gambling machines that state tax officials deem illegal, The Charleston Gazette reports.
The conference center, Village Square, "calls these machines 'Video Raffle Ticket Dispensers,'" the article explains. "According to Village Square's lawyers, these are not video lottery machines and therefore don't need to be approved or regulated by the state Lottery Commission."
State tax officials disagree, as does Harrison County's prosecutor, who's "investigating Village Square and its owners," the article said. IRS agents assisted in the raid, along with county sheriff's deputies.
"Village Square's president is David Gross, a Clarksburg businessman, according to incorporation papers and previous newspaper articles," The Gazette reports. No one was arrested during Saturday's raids, which also hit a Clarksburg residence.
MetroNews also reported on the raids. They coincide with a simmering debate across the state over the video lottery parlors that dot the landscape, and the future of such community-based gambling.
26 January 2009
Raid Targets "Illegal" W.Va. Casino
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I thought the whole point of allowing a minicasino on every corner was to eliminate the illegal gambling. If it hasn't done that, perhaps we should begin weening our state from the gambling money nipple.
Post a Comment